II-4.00(A) UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND POLICIES AND PROCEDURES GOVERNING FACULTY GRIEVANCES
Passed by the Campus Senate, April 23, 1990, and approved by the President,
December 13, 1990. Amended March 4, 2002. This procedure replaces all
faculty grievance procedures previously in effect at all administrative
levels of the University of Maryland College Park.
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Purpose
Legitimate problems, differences of opinion, conflicts, or complaints
sometimes arise in the relationship between the University, as an employer,
and its faculty. Both the faculty member with a grievance and the
University benefit when the University responds to grievances promptly and
fairly. This grievance procedure attempts to handle grievances as
informally as possible and at a level in the University structure that is
accessible to faculty members. The procedure also attempts to handle
grievances in a timely, consistent, and simple manner. A faculty member may
file a grievance under this code or under the Human Relations Code, but the
same grievance cannot be filed under both codes.
B. Who May File a Grievance?
All persons with faculty status irrespective of their administrative duties
or assignments at the time of the action or inaction prompting the grievance
may use this grievance procedure. The faculty members covered by the
Grievance Procedures are all those whose titles are in the University of
Maryland Policy on Appointment, Promotion and Tenure Policy II-1.00(A) part
I and in the University System Policy II-1.00, whether that person is
full-time or part-time, as long as the faculty appointment is the personšs
primary position at the University of Maryland.
Grievances by more than one faculty member may be put together in a single
grievance if each faculty member signs the grievance and the material
actions or inactions and issues are substantially the same for each.
C. What is a Grievance?
Faculty members may file a grievance under this procedure for any action or
inaction by an academic administrator that they believe is unfair,
discriminatory, or improperly reached. Grievance issues include but are not
limited to academic freedom, salary, assignments, and the nature and
conditions of a faculty member's work. Grievances cannot be filed against
written campus and System polices per se.
However, no complaint shall be reviewed under these faculty grievance
procedures if:
1. The complaint pertains to a subject that is reviewable under, or is
specifically excluded from review by any other System or institutional
policy;
2. The complaint pertains to an official policy, regulation, or procedure
of the System or the institution; a decision or action by the Board of
Regents, the Chancellor, or the President; or any matter the remedy for
which would contravene or interfere with any such official policy,
regulation, procedure, decision, or action;
3. The complaint pertains to broad areas of the fiscal management,
staffing, or structure of the University of Maryland System or constituent
institutions; or
4. The resolution of the complaint is not under the control of the
institution and/or of the University System.
D. The Faculty Ombuds Officer
There shall be created at the University of Maryland at College Park the
position of Faculty Ombuds Officer, a neutral and impartial officer to
provide confidential and informal assistance to faculty and administrators
in resolving concerns related to their work. Operating outside ordinary
administrative structure, the Faculty Ombuds Officer shall serve as a
counselor, fact-finder, mediator, and negotiator, but not as an advocate for
any party to a dispute.
The Faculty Ombuds Officer shall serve all faculty and academic
administrators. He or she shall attempt to resolve disputes informally
before they enter formal grievance channels, and shall advise those who seek
information about what constitutes a grievance and what the grievance
procedures are. The Officer shall have access to suitable legal counsel,
prepare a yearly report, and offer recommendations for policy change to the
Campus Senate and the President.
The Faculty Ombuds Officer shall be appointed by the President following a
search conducted by a committee jointly appointed by the Faculty Grievance
Panel and the President. Removal shall be by mutual consent of the
President and a majority of the elected faculty members of the Executive
Committee of the Senate.
II. PROCEDURES
A. Definitions
A grievance allegation is an informal statement of a grievable issue
presented to a respondent. It is based on the same standards as a grievance
complaint, but seeks a remedy through the process of private discussion and
negotiation rather than formal grievance.
A grievance complaint is a formal written statement of a grievable issue
using a prescribed form available from the Faculty Ombuds Officer.
A grievant is the faculty member or members initiating a grievance
allegation or grievance complaint.
The respondent is the person or persons responsible for making the decision
about which the grievant is complaining.
An academic administrator is a vice president, dean, department chair, or
director of an academic unit or designee.
Unfair in Section I.C. shall mean arbitrary, capricious, vindictive,
lacking in justifiable cause or basis in official policy, discriminatory
with respect to treatment accorded to equals, or excessive in relation to
what would be a reasonable and available alternative course of action.
Discriminatory in Section I.C. shall mean disparate treatment on the basis
of unacceptable criteria (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion,
sexual preference, etc.).
Improperly reached in Section I.C. shall mean the decision was reached
without the consultations required by departmental or college regulations
prior to the making of such decisions, or unilaterally without approval of
higher administrators where such approval is required.
A mediation agreement is a formal written statement agreed upon by both the
grievant and respondent that serves to resolve a grievance.
The Faculty Ombuds Officer has central management responsibility for
mediation and for the administration of these procedures (Section I.D.).
The Faculty Grievance Panel is composed of all faculty members of the
College Park Senate, excluding ex officio members.
Days in the calendar of complaint procedures shall mean calendar days
excluding Saturday, Sunday, and days on which the Campus is officially
closed.
B. Information about Procedures
The Faculty Ombuds Officer is responsible for providing information
regarding the negotiation, mediation, and adjudication procedures and their
relation to other policies and procedures of the University. This officer
shall explain, in response to inquiries by faculty members, the conditions
for using the various steps of the grievance procedure. The grievance
procedure calendar allows seventy-five (75) days in which to pursue a
negotiated settlement and an additional seventy-five (75) days within which
to file a grievance complaint. The grievance procedure calendar excludes
the period from June 1 to August 16 because of the possibility that one of
the parties to a grievance may go away for the summer. Grievants will not
be reprimanded or discriminated against in any way for initiating an
inquiry, allegation, or complaint. The same confidentiality accorded to
peer review processes should be observed in the grievance procedure. A
"need to know" standard should apply to the confidentiality accorded to
grievance procedures and those involved in such procedures who have a
legitimate interest in resolving the grievance.
1. Negotiation. As a first step in seeking relief and before a grievance
complaint is filed, the grievant has the option of attempting, either with
or without the advice of the Faculty Ombuds Officer, to resolve the dispute
through negotiation privately entered into with the respondent whose actions
or inactions give rise to the allegation. If both parties agree,
administrators higher in rank may be involved in the effort to resolve the
dispute through informal discussion and negotiation.
The negotiation stage is initiated by an informal grievance allegation and
may proceed over a period not to exceed seventy-five (75) academic calendar
days after the action or inaction prompting the grievance occurs or after
the faculty member first learns of such action or inaction, whichever is
later. Such action or inaction may be the latest in a long standing pattern
or practice, in which case the pattern may be considered as part of the
evidence of the grievance. If the grievance in negotiation is settled to
the satisfaction of all parties, no formal record need be filed with the
Faculty Ombuds Officer, but a written record of such agreement may be so
filed at the request of the grievant. If the grievance in negotiation is
not so settled, and the grievant wishes to proceed to mediation, he or she
must file a grievance complaint with the Faculty Ombuds Officer within
seventy-five (75) days from the commencement of the grievance negotiation,
and in any case not more than one hundred and fifty (150) days from the
action or inaction that prompted the grievance, or one hundred and fifty
(150) days after the faculty member first learns of such action or inaction,
whichever is later.
The grievant is not required to attempt negotiation if he or she believes
that it would prove fruitless. Thus the grievant may proceed directly to
mediation, a step that must be taken within one hundred and fifty (150) days
of the action or inaction prompting the grievance, or one hundred and fifty
(150) days after the faculty member first learns of such action or inaction,
whichever is later.
2. Mediation. Mediation begins when the grievant files the written
grievance complaint with the Faculty Ombuds Officer. The complaint need not
conform to any precise pleading requirements but should express in factual
terms what the basis of the grievance is and what the faculty member is
unhappy about. It is the responsibility of the Faculty Ombuds Officer, as a
mediator, to determine what the nature of the dispute is so that it can be
resolved; the true nature of the dispute may in fact differ from that
described in the complaint. Following counsel with the Faculty Ombuds
Officer, the complaint may be revised. The complaint should follow a
prescribed form. The complaint shall contain at a minimum a concise
statement of the action or inaction giving rise to the grievance, including
the date of the action or inaction and the name of the respondent
responsible. Also, the complaint should specify the adverse effect that the
action or inaction has had or may have on the faculty member, and the remedy
sought. The complaint must state the grievant's address and telephone
number at which he or she may be reached and the name of any legal
representative, with address and telephone information. If the grievant's
representative files the complaint, then it must be signed by the grievant.
The Faculty Ombuds Officer shall mediate the dispute by working with the
parties to seek a solution satisfactory to both.
From the time that the formal grievance complaint is filed, the Faculty
Ombuds Officer shall have twenty-five (25) days in which to conduct
mediation. The Faculty Ombuds Officer may take an additional fifteen (15)
days for mediation provided the grievant is notified of the need for such
extension of time. By mutual consent, the parties may extend the mediation
period for a reasonable time.
If mediation results in a resolution of the conflict, a confidential
written report and mediation agreement shall be forwarded to all parties to
the dispute. The original copy of the report shall be retained by the
Faculty Ombuds Officer. The grievant may withdraw from mediation by giving
the Faculty Ombuds Officer signed appropriate notice. If the grievant
withdraws from mediation, the grievant normally may not proceed to
adjudication. If the mediation fails to produce a satisfactory solution,
the grievant may submit the dispute to adjudication. If, at any time during
the mediation period, the Faculty Ombuds Officer believes the parties cannot
reach agreement, the parties shall be so informed and the mediation effort
shall cease, unless the parties agree to the contrary.
If, because of the cessation of mediation or because of its failure to
resolve the conflict, the grievant is unsatisfied and has neither signed a
mediation agreement nor has withdrawn from mediation during the time
allowed, the grievant is eligible to proceed to adjudication.
3. Adjudication: Upon notice to the grievant by the Faculty Ombuds Officer
of failure of the mediation process, the grievant shall have ten days after
receipt of such notice to submit the formal complaint filed earlier in the
mediation process to the Executive Secretary of the Campus Senate for
adjudication. Within five days of the receipt of such a request, the
Executive Secretary shall inform the respondent of the grievant's action and
request of the Faculty Ombuds Officer a summary statement of the mediation
effort.
a. Administration:
The Office of the Executive Secretary of the Senate shall
be assigned responsibility for keeping a record of grievance actions,
initial notification of persons involved, and monitoring compliance with
procedures. The Executive Secretary of the Senate shall serve as secretary
of the Faculty Grievance Panel.
b. The Faculty Grievance Panel
The Faculty Grievance Panel from which the faculty hearing board is chosen
will be composed of all faculty members, excluding ex officio members,
currently serving on the College Park Campus Senate.
The elected faculty members of the Senate Executive Committee shall select
a Panel Chair who shall take office at the beginning of the academic year
and shall serve for one year. In a case in which the Chair of the Faculty
Grievance Panel is perceived to have a conflict of interest in the
grievance, the grievant may petition the Senate Executive Committee to
appoint the Faculty Grievance Hearing Board.
c. Faculty Grievance Hearing Board
For each grievance sent forward for hearing, the Chair of the Panel shall
select seven members for potential service on the faculty Grievance Hearing
Board, being careful to exclude persons with an apparent conflict of
interest.
The Chair of the Panel shall convene the seven potential members of the
Hearing Board within five days of their having been selected, as well as the
faculty member bringing the grievance and the respondent, to hear
challenges, organize the Board, and set the hearing schedule.
Each party to the grievance may challenge the service of one potential
member of the Hearing Board.
Following the initial meeting of potential members of the Hearing Board
(3.4.1.2.), the Chair of the Panel shall within five days appoint three
voting members of the Hearing Board and two alternate members from the
unchallenged potential members.
The five members of the Faculty Grievance Hearing Board (three voting and
two alternates) shall elect, by majority vote, one voting member to chair
the Hearing Board. If a voting member cannot serve to completion of the
grievance hearing, an alternate shall then be appointed as a voting member
by the Chair of the Hearing Board.
d. Faculty Grievance Hearing Board Procedures
A Faculty Grievance Hearing Board convened pursuant to a faculty member's
request shall hear all arguments on substantive and procedural matters and
shall make necessary written findings.
The faculty member shall be responsible for demonstrating the merits of his
or her grievance. He or she must demonstrate by evidence that the action or
inaction complained of occurred; that the action or inaction adversely
affects him or her; and that a remedy is reasonable and proper. The faculty
member shall have the right to examine and use any legally available part of
his or her personnel files.
Before proceeding to the hearing itself, the Hearing Board may decide to
dismiss the case if all three voting members agree that the dispute is
frivolous or without merit or insufficiently related to the concerns of the
academic community.
Both parties to the grievance have the right to peer or legal counsel. The
Hearing Board at any step of the grievance procedure may request advice of
legal counsel on significant legal issues raised in the grievance. A legal
officer who has provided legal advice or service to the respondent may not
provide legal advice or service to the Hearing Board.
Hearings shall be open unless one or both parties request that they be
closed.
A complete record shall be kept of all proceedings and documents entered as
evidence.
The formal rules of evidence shall not apply to this grievance procedure.
Each party or his or her counsel will have an opportunity to make an opening
and closing statement, present written evidence, examine and cross examine
witnesses, offer personal testimony, and file objections, exceptions,
motions, and post-hearing briefs. Motions raising the issues of standing or
grievability may be raised at any time in the proceedings. If such a motion
is upheld, the grievance shall be dismissed.
Motions raising the issue of timeliness must be made at the first stage of
the proceedings following the time at which the moving party knew or
reasonably could have known of the grounds for making the motion, or the
issue shall be waived. If it is determined, following the raising of the
issue of timeliness, that the requirements of timeliness are not met, the
grievance shall be dismissed. In the case of lack of timeliness as to time
limits other than those for the initial filing of the grievance and any
appeals, the grievance may be dismissed at the discretion of the hearing
authority if the untimeliness results in undue delay or prejudice to the
other party.
The faculty member shall first present his or her case; the respondent will
then present his or her response.
The Chair of the Faculty Grievance Hearing Board shall make rulings on all
questions concerning the course of the proceedings and the presentation of
the evidence and may order the proceedings in such manner as he or she deems
appropriate. The Chair, at his or her discretion, may set time limits for
presentation of testimony and exclude redundant or irrelevant evidence.
Members of the Hearing Board may question the grievant, respondent, and
their witnesses. The Board may call witnesses as it deems necessary, but
their testimony must be a part of the official hearing record.
Only evidence made part of the official hearing record shall be considered
in the determination of the case.
The evidence used by the respondent must be available, in its entirety, to
the grievant.
Both parties have the right to call witnesses, including members of the
Campus staff, in pursuance of their cases. The Faculty Faculty Ombuds
Officer cannot be called as a witness. The Hearing Board cannot assure the
presence of witnesses requested by either party. However, either party may
request in writing that the Hearing Board contact a witness or witnesses to
request their appearance at the hearing; the Hearing Board may contact such
witness or witnesses if in its judgment the request is reasonable and the
testimony to be given by the witness or witnesses is demonstrably relevant
to the issues raised by the grievance.
e. Findings of the Grievance Hearing Board
The Hearing Board shall make its findings and recommendations based upon
the vote of a majority of the voting members. The Board shall prepare a
written report of its findings, including the reasons for the findings, its
recommendations, and any dissent. The report of the recommendation shall be
forwarded to the President with copies to the grievant and to the respondent
whose actions or inactions form the basis of the grievance. The report
shall be sent within ten days after the conclusion of the hearing.
Within thirty (30) days, the President shall report in writing, to both
parties to the grievance, to the Chair of the Hearing Board, and to the
Panel, his or her decision in the matter, and what action, if any, will be
taken. It is expected that the President will give great weight to the
recommendations of the Hearing Board. However, if these recommendations are
not implemented, an explanation of this decision should be provided to all
of the aforementioned parties.
The decision of the President shall be final.
Should the President decide that the grievance is justified and a remedy is
to be awarded, the grievant shall, before receiving any such remedy, execute
a written agreement recognizing the remedy to be satisfactory and waiving
any claims to causes of action arising out of the grievance.
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